this hour... the latest on fears that a levee break cod flood a neighborhood. the storm leaving its mark major roads... the places rock slides and downed treee forcin evacuations this hour. fears on that that a leafy could break and flood a neighborhood. the storm leaving its mark. rock slides and downed trees are forces detours. at least the radar shows that things are beginning to dry out. good evening. we begin with what we know on the breaking news. a creek forced a brief highway closure but right now, a bigger danger. a levy is in way of giving way. it is happening right now. we are live with the latest, elisa? >> reporter: brian, the

biggest concern is that the levy could break. it is happening in the gardens neighborhood. 10 homes have been evacuated on daphne way. there are other voluntary e vac waeugs in place -- evacuations in place. now, the fire chief says it has breaks big enough that he can put his hand in it. now, here is more video from earlier. cars driving through standing water and lanes of traffic. some of them broke down, we saw people trying to jump-start their cars after it happened on university avenue right outside of the four seasons hotel in that gardens neighborhood water is up to people's driveways. we caught up with people putting out sandbags and worried about their homes. >> i put out sandbags. about 10 minutes as soon as i can get the mud away.

other than that wait until the water goes down. >> my mom is pretty scared. she is telling me she is scared. she wants to get her stuff because she his important documents and stuff. -- she has important documents and stuff. >> it closed lanes on highway 101 causing major flooding problems. now, this is another big problem happening out here tonight. if you come back to us live i want to show you some of the lights in the area are off. that is because this is a major outage in east palo alto. now, people were going to the ymca but now the ymca is a place without electricity. reporting live in east palo alto, back to you. flooding nothing knew for that area. do you remember this from

february of 1998? during the el nino flood storms. the rains back then turning the creek into a rage far beyond what is happening tonight and tonight is bad enough. flood warnings for napa river at napa for the second time this season. the latest it does not look as if if it will hit flood stage. the rains headed south and east of the bay area allows the watersheds time to drain. not fast enough, though, for some roads. niles canyon road closed because of a rock slide. the traffic was detoured to the 680 but we are just getting word the road could open any minute. state road 84 is closed in both directions because of a tree blocking all lanes. and in the santa cruz mountains, highway 17 was closed causing back ups it has been reopened. the state route 1 it is closed near valley ford because of

flooding. another road closure. the mana rammic highway, above down town mill valley was completely blocked by a large tree. it took crews extra time to get up the narrow road. even longer to start clearing it. >> well, i am upset. i want to get home. [ laughter ] so, you know, i am -- it is not their fault. obviously this is a tree in the road. the difference is why isn't somebody cutting it? that is the difference. why isn't somebody cutting the tree down so we can get home? >> reporter: they eventually did. motorists had to go around to highway 101 south to get back on the freeway. the stormy weather made for tough going. stormy point road at 116 was closed. after this massive sinkhole opened up. a drainage pipe under the road caused the pavement to collapse. road crews brought in massive steel plates to cover it while repairs were being made. >> we are taking safety precautions to make sure that a

car does not fall through and fall into the hole. >> the crews say it could be closed up to 3 days while they patch up the hole. >> also, a house on cozy court was hit hard when a large fur tree came down. the tree splintered into pieces. it knocked power out in the area. no word on injuries. the winds gusted to 60 miles an hour. in sanoma county. it took down trees, too. one block. the city crews were on the scene quickly to cleanup the mess and get the road open. >> and driving was treacherous at the height of the storm. many accidents, spin outs, an overturned car. that is on 101 near airport boulevard where the water was deep and it caught drivers off guard. no word on injuries here, either. >> the great highway in san francisco is closed again between lincoln and sloth. the ocean tides, heavy rain and

shifting sand. all conspiring to close the southbound lanes. one northbound lane closed as well. much of the day had people along the river watching the river rise. cbs 5 is on the preparations that are all too familiar to the locals. >> from swollen creeks to flooded lots. the couldn't sedealing with the repper cautions of the latest -- -- issues. >> they own this park and they maintain it. >> we tried sandbagging in the past. it is fruitless. >> willow creek topped its banks this morning. >> we have to come in and shovel it out and replant the grass and cleanup the bathrooms, a huge job. >> reporter: a few miles away. >> it is a little dramatic, i think. >> reporter: this trucking company's parking lot is part of the creek that ran behind it, the dumpster sitting in

several inches of water. >> we moved all of the trucks that were on that side. i am worried about my guy's trucks over here. it is coming fast. >> since we don't know how much rain will come for the rest of the week, businesses here are preparing for the worst. >> reporter: they have sandbags at the ready in their parking lots. >> we hope for the best. mother nature is going to do what it is going to do. >> we put stuff on tables and everything. >> reporter: they moved everything off of the floor in his apparel printing shop. >> we have flood insurance and all of that but you don't want to go this if you can avoid it. >> reporter: and it is only december. >> hopefully it happens early in the season and not later in the season. get in earlier and we will clean it up. >> it is a big job cleaning it up after this. the wind and wet weather played havoc for travelers, 56 flights were canceled today.

some nights running 2-1/2 hours behind schedule. there were no major delays at the san jose and oakland airports, though. travelers in the high country facing different delays. the snow is continuing to fall and warnings remain in effect until early tomorrow. driving on interstate 80 and highway 50. it is under chain restrikes most of the weekend. strong winds are creating whiteout conditions at times with gusts up to 70 miles an hour. in all, 6-8 inches of new snow above 8,000 feet. cbs reporter, shore, has been watching the snow pileup. >> for many t it is the start of an annual celebration. >> usually every christmas. >> we are out here for the holidays to enjoy good days of snowboarding. >> this year, like years past, these lategoers will start their holiday vacation like nobody wants to. no celebration at all. >> traffic, crazy. look at this. >> a wet in places, interstate 80 towards the sierra with crawling traffic. >> it is taking awhile.

>> the sun started to set traffic would begin to back up close to gold. >> it was fine and then it was slow rolling after that. >> it stopped and stand stilled from there on out. >> frustrating to say the least. >> i can tell you firsthand this traffic is nasty. we left sacramento at about 2:45. it is 5:15 now and we are not even halfway to borial which is where we are sup posed to do the story today. >> 40 minutes to go two miles. >> and it is the frustration of getting the chains on the tires here, hoping the next few days are more merry. >> these little ones were trying to make the best of it the adults are trying. >> i would like to think it is worth it. fresh snow. >> is it worth it or would you rather go home? [ laughter ] >> no. it is worth it. it is fun. yeah. >> reporter: back to you. >> boy, you will love the skiing. today's stormy weather left many residents in the dark.

many are still in the dark right now. pg&e say customers are out in the south bay. up from earlier in the day. hundreds are without power in the north bay. the peninsula and san francisco. pg&e says crews work through the night to address power outages. they don't have a time for when lights get back on. stormy weather, checking our live doplar radar. that is on our web site. >> checking bay area headlines now. it is not a spare of the air day yet. >> air quality management district is asking people not to do this. lightwood-burning fires or stoves tomorrow. the officials want to avoid a build up of unhealthy air that could lead to a spare the air day on christmas day. >> and, this is san francisco's explorium, the last full week of operation at the current site. it has been at the fine arts

for more than 40 years. but it is moving to pier 59 along the embarcadero. it will reopen there in april. a ceremony at the current location will be held on january 2nd. and the restaurant in san francisco holds the annual toy drive tomorrow. people can drop off toys for needy kids any time from 6:00 a.m. to midnight at 3:30 gary boulevard. the 12th for the toy drive. san francisco police marking a grim anniversary. six years ago it this weekend officer brian tavara was shot and killed trying to arrest a prison escapee. this year people were asked to go to a private room that bears his name. the last hours for customers. how stores are accommodating

the procrastinators. is it crazy to call for putting police or armed security in our schools then call me crazy. >> the nnra continues to defend its response. how their case may be working against them. ,,,,,,,,,,,,

before christmas... and bar hunters are packing the stor lymph, just one full day left to shop before christmas. bargain hunters are packing the stores. regardless of the weather. prices are marked down. around the clock sales are attracting the christmas procrastinators. people are picking up the last- minute gifts for friends, family, themselves -frp the shoppers tell us some deals are -- themselves. the shoppers tell us some deals are too good to pass up. >> more retailers look like they hired more people just to make sure. >> that is exactly what they are doing. they are adding more employees and hours to meet the needs of shoppers. some stores open around-the- clock to accommodate the customers. >> meanwhile at the shops in san bruno.

shoppers enjoyed giftwrapping thanks to volunteers from parkway heights middle school. parents and students played santa elves for the band program. all right, back to the topic of the night. i want to catch you up-to-date for napa county where the napa river was forecasted to be above flood stage in the city of napa and in santa helena. it crested just above flood stage it led to minor flooding. it looks as if the napa river will not reach its flood stage peak of 25 feet because it just has not been building up to that much of a peak. never the less, they have flood warnings posted there. with levels there, moderate flooding. especially in the agricultural areas, border the river. it bears watching but at least it seems as if we dodged, you know, any real problems on the river tonight. hi-def doplar is showing us things dried up. the storm moved north to south and wind gusts bay wide.

that is unusual for bay wide wind gusts of nearly 60 miles an hour. that is what we had today. it went through it did not spare anybody. when it rained around the russian river it looks as if this river will stay below flooding when it will crest t. it is just below the flood stage. it bears watching, good news, no rain. so, we will not be adding to that river level in the next 24- hours. but, christmas does not look so good. we will tell you about that in a minute. right now in concord, 48 degrees, oakland, 52, livermore, 48 degrees, sfo, 52 degrees, san jose 49, santa rosa 53. the showers do end, we will dry out tomorrow but it looks as if we will get wet on christmas. and because of all of the moisture in the atmosphere tonight and because of the clearing skies, patchy dense fog could really be a problem

tomorrow. so, out the door, look for patchy fog along the coast. fog around the bay and inland as well. the numbers a little chillier than we are used to. numbers at 9:00 in the lower 50s. here is what happened. the low pressure that was in the northern part of the coast moving south. as it did, one main front, a secondary front that pushed in. some of the showers and the thundershowers late in the day. the sun will come out tomorrow. we will get more clearing, we will get drying before this moves in. the next system that is right on the heels of the low pressure that moved through today. it will be giving us some rain on christmas day. not nearly as much as we had over the past 24 hours. winter storm warnings from the residue of the storm that is moving into the sierra and south end of santa barbara county. it means the entire nevada we have heavy snow, gusty winds, avalanche danger. after all, we picked up as much as 8 feet of snow above 7,000

feet in the sierra. that is a lot of powder up there. and it is still going to be snowing tonight. with those winter storm warnings at 4:00 in the morning. sfo, partly sunny skies, winds out of the west, 35 miles an hour. high, 55, heading out to denver, same for chicago. newyork city, 39 degrees, partly cloudy skies. numbers in the 50s in the bay area. it looks as if on christmas not a huge deal. it will spread south in the north bay and the rest of the bay area, the remainder of the day. the temperatures in the 50s on christmas. the exstepbded forecast we with will look for rain on tuesday. a few showers on tuesday. but, then, we can all exhale. thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, they look dry. that is weather. sports coming up shows continued the contentious debate on g coming up on "game day" what do the 49ers have to say about a loss like they had up in set is set? >> the raiders story, too.

and what does a turtle have to do with it? find out ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

control. cbs reporter margaret brennan on the n-'s latest defense of its stand. executive vice president wae lapierre: (sot lapierre 09:03:19) "if it's crazy to more on the nra's defense of its stand. the nra is arguing for the creation of a national dataa base of the mentally ill to prevent them from buying weapon. the -- data base for the mentally ill to prevent them from buying weapon. and putting armed guards in schools. >> if it is crazy to call for

putting police and armed security in our school to protect our children, then call me crazy. i will tell you what the american people -- i think the american people think it is crazy not to do it. >> reporter: but the american public is showing a new willingness to tight engun control laws. in -- tighten gun control laws. it in a new pole, 57% of americans said that gun control laws should be more strict. that is the highest level of support in a decade. and may provide renewed support for politics willing to challenge the powerful nra lobby. newyork senator criticized the nra vice president's argument that any attempt at gun restrictions is bound to fail. >> i think he is so extreme and tone deaf he helps the cause of us passing sensible gun legislation in the congress. >> reporter: a number of

democratic congressmen pledged to -- reintroduce bans and certain restrictions on ammunition. many fear those new laws and are are voting with their pocketbook. at a denver gun show this weekend, ammunition for the ar- 15 semiautomatic rifle, the style of weapon used in the newtown attack sold out within an hour. >> we are worried we will not be able to keep our guns for our safety and we are not doing anything wrong. >> reporter: it is not clear yet if the nation's second worst school shooting actually drives washington to change any gun laws. but a review from cbs news indicates schools in at least a dozen states are looking at the nra's call to add armed officers or to allow teachers to carry weapon. >> cbs news, washington. still ahead, perfect weather to take in a movie. the box office winners and losers, next ,,,, ,,,,

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box office gold...again. the film topped the competition inging in 3 i'm going on an adventure! >> a clip from "the hobbit" it scored gold again. it topped the competition for a

second weekend bringing in $36.5 million. another newcomer, "this is 40" was third. "rise of the guardians" and "lincoln" rounded out the top 5. christmas eve tradition, norad has been tracking santa since 1955. this year you can keep tabs on him and a n a lot of different ways. >> it looks like it will be another successful journey. thanks to norad. >> they have a santaa tracker app for smart phones. you can follow the big guy on big maps and twitter. that is bing. and for the first time kaogel is tracking sapbt on its maps. and you can interact with him on google plus. we will be back -- santa on its maps. and you can interact with him on google plus ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,